AirPlay Mirroring & Apple TV: a very big deal!

We’ve talked about this in a few other threads, but I think this topic deserves it’s own dedicated thread. I’ll start with excerpts from this thread.

I don’t think the primary financial impact of this will be from Apple TV. It will be from the increased sales of A5-powered iOS devices due to this extension of capability. The video game console market must be shuddering.

relentlessFocus - 03 December 2010 07:27 PM

pats - 21 November 2010 01:40 PM

HammockGuy - 21 November 2010 07:05 AM

Speaking of versatility, is there an option for us to wirelessly connect the iPad to a larger monitor, such as a home HDTV screen?

Like many here, if I’m charting a stock, like on TOS, I’d like the option to see it on a larger screen, as opposed to having to power up the iMac.

You currently need a wired connection. One possibility might be using Airplay, and the Apple Tv, but the developer must specifically implement the feature. The iPad currently does not support display mirroring.

...AirPlay’s possibilities are enticing. There is a believable (to me) rumour on the interweb that SJ was asked by an emailer if AirPlay would work with other apps and SJ has reportedly answered “Yep, in 2011” which is not all that far away even if it isn’t in Jan/Feb. I can’t see why this wouldn’t happen as it will be a game changer...When AirPlay is in full throttle as described above the universe will shake rattle and roll. Everyone, even Eric Schmidt will want one. :innocent:

At the touch of a screen, guests are able to order room service, make restaurant reservations, communicate directly with the concierge, request wake-up calls, explore NYC destination guides, and even check airline schedules and print boarding passes (which are promptly delivered to their room).

Apple TV sales are going to eventually mirror iPad 2 sales. It will rank up there with the Smart Cover as an almost necessary accessory. The link below includes a video of how some apps will translate to a big screen. Don’t watch it if you don’t want to buy an iPad 2 and Apple TV.

iPad 2 AirPlay Mirroring Video Walkthrough

During the WWDC keynote, Apple mentioned AirPlay Mirroring in passing, but it is the greatest iOS 5 feature...The functionality is so amazing in actual use that is quite literally jaw dropping. No matter what you do on an iPad 2, from surfing the internet and reading books to looking at photos and videos, you can now do it on the big screen. AirPlay Mirroring is a whole new way to play iOS games, and the iOS platform just came a lot closer to the console systems. If a game is tilt based, or has fixed control inputs, then you can play a game focusing on the HDTV, and never looking at the iPad screen.

AirPlay brought the promise of putting the internet on our TV’s via Apple TV. But since App developers could either opt in or out, that promise became a little hollow. Now with AirPlay mirroring, everything that goes on one’s iPad can be seen on one’s TV via Apple TV.

I can see (at least) 4 uses for this:

1) Presentations.

2) Games.

3) Sharing personal media such as photos, videos, etc.

4) Streaming internet media such as Youtube, ABCTV, Hulu, etc.

I’m still wrapping my mind around how AirPlay Mirroring may affect us. Thoughts?

FalKirk, I agree that all 4 of the use cases you list will be significant, but I think games will make the splashiest entrance.

Here are excerpts from a long article from a video game website. Apple has already made a dent in the portable gaming industry; now they’re ready to take away console gaming dollars. Best I can gather from a quick search is revenue in the $20 billion range between the big 3 of Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft.

Apple’s Videogame Future

While it’s tempting to assume that Apple’s fresh gaming-focused strategy is merely to buttress its existing portable iOS business, we believe the Cupertino-based company has something a little more dramatic planned. Apple is a company that is constantly looking to expand into new and fertile territory, and there’s another equally profitable arena that is just waiting to be dominated: your living room.

...perhaps Apple is cooking up something even more drastic, such as a fully-fledged gaming system?..With the recently-launched iPad 2, Apple certainly has the hardware to make such a daring move. The iPad 2’s technological prowess is nothing short of incredible…With the current generation of iOS gaming arguably giving the Nintendo Wii a run for its money in graphical terms, an all-new Apple “console” based on the Apple A5 ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU—which powers the iPad 2 and is expected to make its way into the next iPhone model—could easily be up to PS3/360 standard…or possibly even beyond.

Those of you that have witnessed the likes of Infinity Blade or Real Racing 2 in action will attest that iOS gaming is perilously close to matching the graphic standard set by the current crop of home consoles. Should Apple choose to augment the power of the A5 CPU further with an even stronger GPU and more RAM, this intimidating configuration of hardware could be put to very good use inside a home console or set-top box.

There are other interesting elements to consider when speculating about such a machine. Industry experts are keen to point out that the era of physical media is slowly but surely coming to a close, and services such as Valve’s groundbreaking Steam are revolutionizing the way in which we purchase video games. It’s important to remember that Apple already has a robust online storefront in the form of the iTunes App Store; they’re perfectly positioned to capitalize on this new world of digital downloads…Both Sony and Microsoft would kill to have such a framework in place.

Another plus point is that Apple wouldn’t have to work hard to ensure that such a gaming system receives the appropriate amount of third-party support; such a machine would be virtually guaranteed input from all of the biggest developers and publishers, purely because they’re already firmly behind iOS. Activision, EA, Sega, Konami, Capcom, Square Enix—all of these video gaming veterans have already taken a chance on Apple, and have reaped the benefits. And then there’s a new generation of developers and publishers to consider; iOS stalwarts such as Rovio, Chillingo, and Gameloft have already created pocket-sized slices of gaming brilliance, and we’re sure they’re itching to prove they have what it takes to entertain on a larger scale.

Just as Apple has torn up the rulebook on pricing in the mobile arena, it could easily do so again with a home console. When faced with the option of buying a PS3 or 360 and then having to shell out $50 or more on a new game, the notion of an Apple console with sub-$9.99 releases could prove irresistible to the average consumer.

i’ve had an HTPC Mac Mini for years. it was better than nothing to show web stuff and media on my HDTV. but it was always clumsy. the necessary keyboard/trackpad UI is just not sofa friendly (and that goes for all such Logitech and other products too, including Google TV).

Airplay/Home Sharing with Apple TV revolutionized the media half of this last year. then iPad video mirroring via HDMI dongle/cable completed the other half months ago. i disconnected my HTPC. the cable is still a nuisance tho, and most consumers would not want to use that. but once it is wireless, it will become extremely popular.

because the iPad UI is of course totally sofa friendly. the potential for games and new HDTV-oriented apps is obvious. but actually just simple web surfing may be the big surprise. you can finally do it as a family or socially, instead of two or three people trying to see a single computer screen at the same time - or passing the laptop around - always a poor experience.

so yes i agree with the comment that Apple TV will quickly become a must-have iPad accessory. for just $100 you get a whole new thing, and it’s much more powerful and far easier to use than all the built in browser/apps that TV OEM’s are trying to push these days.

I liked the FireMint demo the most from another thread. Gaming requires the most technologically out of a system and any bottleneck ruins the experience. Seeing wireless output from an iPad to a 1080p TV (assuming) is impressive and I actually think cloud computing gaming is possible within 5-10 yrs. I hope SJ understands cloud computing with all of its potential because it is the next revolution and the pieces are coming to place. The wireless mobile revolution will plateau soon in the US. My biggest criticism with the iOS5 would be the social media aspect. Social media isn’t about the technology but more of ease of use and popularity. I fail to understand why Twitter was integrated and Facebook was not because Google will definitely do it soon. iOS5 is almost a complete solution for social media and messaging. iPhone sales exploded when Apple introduced the $100 phone because it wasn’t the 20+ who couldn’t afford $300. It was the teenagers and having SMS, email, twitter and facebook in one easy to use place with a great push notification is a huge selling point more so than any new sleek, jawdropping design.

The first feature that he seems excited about is AirPlay display mirroring for iPad 2. This feature allows users with an iPad and an AppleTV attached to a display to mirror the entire display of the iPad 2, not just photos or videos.

?It gives you wireless Keynote presentations from anywhere. It gives you Penultimate in your hand without the cable tying you to the front. It puts any web resource that anyone found useful on your classroom wall. It lets you have any child take over the display to show their work without ?standing up in front of the class? to do so.?

That last idea is one I hadn’t thought of. Of course there will also be certain pranks they will need to guard against. I can think of a dozen without even trying…and it’s been decades since I was in Junior High.

Can you imagine how much easier it will be to access audiovisual material? First it was video projectors with reels, then video cassettes and most recently DVDs. Now you can go straight to PBS.com, nationalgeographic.com, etc.

iPhone sales exploded when Apple introduced the $100 phone because it wasn’t the 20+ who couldn’t afford $300. It was the teenagers and having SMS, email, twitter and facebook in one easy to use place with a great push notification is a huge selling point more so than any new sleek, jawdropping design.

Not sure I see how a teenager can afford the monthly cell charges but can’t afford $200 for an iPhone 4 16GB.

Can you imagine how much easier it will be to access audiovisual material?

How about the entire course curriculum? How about the resources available to home schoolers? Self paced learning in small work groups will have thousands of 16 year olds doing college level work. Brave new education.

I want to chime in on the significance of this new technology - Airplay HD mirroring.
Tonight I figured I would be a guinea pig of sorts. I was already running IOS5 Beta on my ipad, so I figured I would head over to Best Buy (the local apple store has horrible parking…) and buy an apple TV.
5 min later and $99 lighter, I headed home.

I downloaded the Beta 2 software for the Apple TV and updated it as soon as I got home. Within about 1 min I was mirroring my iPad to my HDTV…and it was amazing cool..almost mesmerizing! The setup is pure Apple easy, just like it should be.

Real Racing 2 HD is da bomb on it! It was incredibly smooth, very fluid and had hardly any lag. Some apps are just mirrored to the HDTV because they haven’t been specifically programmed for it..which is still very cool. But when they are specifically developed to take advantage of the mirroring (like real racing 2 HD) then they can show different content on the ipad vs the HDTV. RR2HD shows the lap layout and some controls, while the HDTV shows the cockpit and what the driver would see. This makes Playstation or xbox controllers look like dinosaurs! A game though that requires or takes advantages of special functions using the myriad of controller buttons may still have an advantage using the old controllers.

I thought the clarity and detail was amazing but obviously not 1080p (i think the apple TV is 720p) It was more than adequate for a 50” HDTV.

Go give it a try and you will see what I mean. Both devices need the newest beta software. The iPad will need to have the udid registered by a developer, but the Apple TV does not.

This is truly an ace in the pocket for Apple. We are really going to see some compelling uses for this and within a very short time I think we will wonder how we ever did without it!

I want to chime in on the significance of this new technology - Airplay HD mirroring.
Tonight I figured I would be a guinea pig of sorts. I was already running IOS5 Beta on my ipad, so I figured I would head over to Best Buy (the local apple store has horrible parking…) and buy an apple TV.
5 min later and $99 lighter, I headed home.

I downloaded the Beta 2 software for the Apple TV and updated it as soon as I got home. Within about 1 min I was mirroring my iPad to my HDTV…and it was amazing cool..almost mesmerizing! The setup is pure Apple easy, just like it should be.

Real Racing 2 HD is da bomb on it! It was incredibly smooth, very fluid and had hardly any lag. Some apps are just mirrored to the HDTV because they haven’t been specifically programmed for it..which is still very cool. But when they are specifically developed to take advantage of the mirroring (like real racing 2 HD) then they can show different content on the ipad vs the HDTV. RR2HD shows the lap layout and some controls, while the HDTV shows the cockpit and what the driver would see. This makes Playstation or xbox controllers look like dinosaurs! A game though that requires or takes advantages of special functions using the myriad of controller buttons may still have an advantage using the old controllers.

I thought the clarity and detail was amazing but obviously not 1080p (i think the apple TV is 720p) It was more than adequate for a 50” HDTV.

Go give it a try and you will see what I mean. Both devices need the newest beta software. The iPad will need to have the udid registered by a developer, but the Apple TV does not.

This is truly an ace in the pocket for Apple. We are really going to see some compelling uses for this and within a very short time I think we will wonder how we ever did without it!

I would expect the next version of the Apple TV would include the A5 SOC which would bring 1080p to airplay mirroring. Perfect stocking stuffer for Christmas :grinsanta:

I wonder if Apple would license TV set manufacturers to build iTV into their sets…

iTV is actually another product. But since you mean AppleTV, I recall that there was some rumor a while back that Apple had been licensing to HD set manufacturers. But I haven’t seen any product announcements. Perhaps by this fall, when all the pieces from Apple will be in place in time for the HDTV new product rollouts.

I wonder if Apple would license TV set manufacturers to build iTV into their sets…

iTV is actually another product. But since you mean AppleTV, I recall that there was some rumor a while back that Apple had been licensing to HD set manufacturers. But I haven’t seen any product announcements. Perhaps by this fall, when all the pieces from Apple will be in place in time for the HDTV new product rollouts.

I meant a product with the same functionality as iTV but built into the set. I TV would still be available to attach to those sets that didn’t have it built in.

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